ABSTRACT
Prior to the advent of virologic and immunologic techniques, congenital viral infection was defined as a disease present at birth or developing before the shortest known incubation period for the virus in the immediate neonatal period. Although still a valid documentation of congenital infection, it results in the recognition of only a limited spectrum of transplacental viral transmission and excludes those cases of congenital infection whose incubation period is one standard deviation removed or whose viral challenge is insufficient to produce clinical disease.
